Photo: Set up for quad... and thruster. I'm a big fan of the thruster, 2 + 1, fin box set up (in whatever configuration you might want to run) but I'm curious about the four fin movement. We'll see....

7 comments:

John,That thing is SIIIIICCK! Give the quad a good try and you will piss on a thruster... 2x faster and 4x more manuverable than a 2+1. I love the quad I have rode those Lopez future SUP quads nice fins work good but I use FCS and like the MR front and the small canard rears. Been playing with M7 sides and a little smaller rears to slide more and its a ball doing a swack up on a verticle face and sliding it back down side ways kind of tail first like a finless board. Oh yeah hopefully I get some pics from the photogs here soon showing sequences of me doing airs and carving 360's and a real verticle off the lip. Boards are dialed and I am realy starting to pull off some cool stuff. Yoga has helped tons.Peace,I will post up some new boards soon,Capt Ron

Great to hear from you and thanks for the vote of confidence on the freshy... I'm super stoked on it so far... Stamps has definitely got it going on.

Also- excited to give the quads a try... Would you mind posting up the fin set up you're running? If it works, let's get the word out and I'd love to see it too.

What's the thinking with going with canards? Is there a different fin placement when you run those... fill me in, I'm trying to learn as much as I can about fin stuff.

Lastly, what's the summer surf trip plans? Would love to hear about where you're going- didn't you mention doing Baja next winter too?

Just took a West Coast Capt. out for his first paddle lesson- super fun and the guy had skills. He runs two week trips down to islands off the tip of Baja... he had stories about wide open waves that would be perfect for stand up... yeeee haw!

John,Yeah I did some home work and Einstien calculating on my quad set up I run the rears 8" up from the tail to the rear of the fin and from stringer or center 4.5" or 9" between the rear of the fins and 1/8th in tow in the fromt marked 4.125 up from the rear fin mark. The front fins I put the rear up at 16" and 1.5" off the rail and mark up 4.25" and 1/4" tow. I cant the front fins about 6 degrees and the rear fins at 0 degrees to 1.5 dgree. I am a old school twinfin guy I surf off my rail and I have found the quad is a twin that works unreal superior hold drive and control even when you cavitate the fins side wayes they leave you enough bite for control. When you think about the overall tail widths on SUPs for surfing you notice the fins are spread far apart much farter apart than your favorite prone boards. Now with a tri on a SUP when in a turning rail burying cituation the outside fin is so far out side it is not doing you any good at all you hope that thruster holds because that inside fin is already slipping. I found big guys like us have the weight to rail surf and tend to where smaller guys tend to turn their boards flat off the fins. Now with the quad when you stick a hard turn be it bottom or top or cut back you have 2 fins on the rail where you need them so in essince the harder you turn the faster the board goes tranfering all your turning energy into forward projection.The fin itself plays a big role I use twin fin fronts and canard style rears all around surfing. The twins give decent drive and hold but not superior drive and hold by them selves due to the cant angle and tow and how far forward of teh tail they are. The canards give the drive but not being raked way back they let go of the water quickly and do not give a tight feel. If you run a raked rear fin you will get good drive but the turning radious of the set up with be lengthened and you will feel the resistance of the fins. My small boards 7'6" and 8'0" I run a little closer to the tail by 1/2" than on 9'0" and up.I have been in cituations many times with my quads where late drops or top turn in a critical section where the board is sideways to the force and the fins let go and cavitate sideways (I have grown to like this sensation and it will not shoot right out from under you like aprone board tends to, its fully controlable Just relax and adjust your weight and paddle and when the fins hook back up the speed you get opens up a new style of maneuvers. I find myself on decent days purposely sliding the fins out spinning and sliding around giggling the whole time. The more and the harder you turn the quad the faster it goes. When I catch a decent chest high peak here that is a little weak I will turn back and forth in front of the peak 2 or 3 hard times and the 3rd or 4th turn when it starts to wall a bit I can slide 10-15ft down the lip then hook the inside rail fins into a deep cutback and pop off the white water and zip down the line it feels so cool.Peace,Capt Ron

John,I realy do not have a problem with a snap on a quad. But you will notice the speed of the the quad puts you way ahead of a verticle section so you have to cut back a bit to place yourself in a good spot to go straight up and snap it around. Did I mention the quad is probably 2x's faster than a 2+1. On a speedy section when you drop don't go all the way to the bottom do a turn mid lower face come up and push some speed out on the upper 3rd of the wave on the more verticle part of it realy using those fins. You will get so much speed you can blast a big air or do a full rail burrying layback off the top. Also you will find yourself making sections on closeouts and realy fast down the line waves you could not dream of making on the 2+1. Yeah no simple answers on surfcraft everything effects the ride. So many variables from what you had for breakfast, to the salinity of the water to the finish on the bottom of the board, fin size, placement it just goes on and on. I will have some stuff up soon and hopefully some sequence pics or video.Peace,Capt Ron